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Flash Flood Watch In Place In Waldo Canyon Burn Area

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) - A flash flood watch is in place through early Thursday evening in the burn area from the Waldo Canyon Fire, where residents have been sandbagging for days.

Walls of sandbags are in place at the bases of the hillsides in the Mountain Shadows neighborhood of Colorado Springs, where hundreds of homes burned in the fire last year. Some of the sandbag barriers next to some homes and roads are as tall as 5 feet high.

Officials with Colorado Springs have been keeping a close eye on the areas which are at most risk to flooding due to the lack of vegetation on the hillsides from last year's devastating fire.

Scattered showers, with some heavy at times, are predicted in the afternoon and through 6 p.m. in the lower elevations of El Paso County. Snow fell in the higher elevations in the morning, which is actually good news for residents who are so worried about mud slides or floodwater getting in their homes.

"The snow in there actually takes a while to melt so it doesn't come down all at once, which is good for the debris flows," said Ken Hughlett, the emergency management coordinator for Colorado Springs. "We're really concerned about the flash flooding with debris, because it's unpredictable. It will get choked up in some of our streams and change the water patterns for us. So we're happy that we're getting snow up there now.

Flooding will be a concern in the area for some time as it will likely take years for trees and other vegetation to grow back. In the meantime, homeowners are doing whatever they can to protect their homes from Mother Nature as well.

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